Students at Park Elementary school Friday voted for their favorite among 11 menu proposals as offered by Eric Dowson's sixth grade class. For the past three weeks, the class has been studying the progressive era of the late 1890s to the early 1920s in American History. The period was marked by an increase in social activism, with sweeping changes brought forth such as the women suffrage movement and prohibition to name a few.

Sunflower Rod & Custom Association is celebrating the 60th anniversary of drag racing at the old B-29 bomber runway west of Great Bend, and in a big way. Kansas Speedweek got under way Saturday with the first-ever West Central Super Quick Series.

First United Methodist Church of Great Bend will host Early Responder training Saturday, April 27 in the church basement. Early Response Teams help remove debris and make temporary repairs, reduce future damage and help to make buildings safe and reduce health hazards, observe and report victims needs and begin a caring ministry of listeners that help victims begin to heal.

A local company was awarded the contract to build a $4.2 million, 172-bed dormitory for Barton Community College. BCC trustees on Thursday chose C.V. Cale Construction, Great Bend, over two lower bidders from other parts of the state.

It's time to mark calendars for May 31-June 2 to take part in the second-annual K-96 June Jaunt. This 176-mile long event, held the first weekend of June, stretches from Ellinwood to Tribune, featuring arts, antiques, crafts, cuisine, music and so much more. Non-stop, the trip would take about three hours and 40 minutes, but organizers are hoping folks will take a lot longer, and see what they have to offer in arts, history and commerce.

Kansas Speedweek has arrived. The much anticipated nine-day event will shine the spotlight on Great Bend as the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association celebrates it's 60th anniversary with a whole slate of activities that will draw visitors from across Kansas and out of state to the city.

WASHINGTON D.C. - Wednesday night, Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) was Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae's guest at the residence of the Ambassador of Japan. Japan recently raised the age cap on its beef imports from 20 months of age to 30 months. The U.S. Meat Export Federation projects this change will increase U.S. beef exports to Japan by 45% in 2013.

Colton Delgado started buying horses and breaking them at 15 years old. That same year, he entered his first rodeo event in Salina, and by age 16, he travelled to Salina for his first bareback event. He came in first at a Park City rodeo in 2010, but he feels he started to "finally get decent" last year, winning a buckle for qualifying for Nationals, another for winning at State, and another for winning at another rodeo event. In just three years, he's in the running to be the 2013 state champion bareback rider according to Kansas High School ...

April is a month filled with violent history, both in the past and present day. By 1886, Great Bend's lawless days were over. Violence, however, still erupted from time to time. This week, the Tribune presents an essay by local historian Karen Neuforth recounting two such incidents for Out of the Morgue.

For years, the State of Kansas, through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's Bureau of Waste Management, operated three facilities for the storage of methamphetamine-related materials. Law enforcement officers would bring the contaminated items to landfills in Great Bend, Ottawa and Wichita.